Month: December 1969

Why does a fluorescent bulb sometimes appear blue, especially right before it burns out?

I’m not aware of any tendency to change colors as it begins to burn out, but many fluorescent bulbs are relatively blue in color. The phosphor coatings used to convert the mercury vapor’s ultraviolet emission into visible light don’t create pure white. Instead, they create a mixture of different colors that is a close approximation to white light. There are a number of different phosphor mixtures, each with its own characteristic spectrum of light: cool white, deluxe cool white, warm white, deluxe warm white, and others. The cool white bulbs are most energy efficient but emit relatively bluish light. This light gives the bulbs a cold, medicinal look. The warm white bulbs are less energy efficient, but more pleasant to the eye.

Why do mercury lamps without phosphors emit visible light at high pressure? What are the “forbidden” transitions?

At low pressure, a mercury lamp emits mostly 254-nanometer ultraviolet light. That light is created when an electron in the mercury atom goes from its lowest excited orbital to its ground (normal) orbital. The other wavelengths of light emitted by the low-pressure lamp are weak and widely spaced in wavelength. An electron must sent into a very highly excited orbital in order to emit one of these other wavelengths. But at high pressure, mercury atoms have trouble sending their favorite 254 nanometer light out of the lamp. Whenever one of the atoms emits a particle of 254-nanometer light (moving its electron from the first excited orbital to the ground orbital), another nearby atom absorbs that particle of light (moving its electron from the ground orbital to the first excited orbital). As a result the 254-nanometer light cannot escape from the lamp; it becomes trapped in the mercury gas! Instead, the atoms begin to send their energy out of the lamp by concentrating on radiative transitions between highly excited orbitals and that lowest excited orbital. These wavelengths become more common in the light emission from the lamp as its pressure rises. But some radiative transitions that are forbidden at low pressure (that cannot occur because an electron is not able to move from one particular excited orbital to another particular excited orbital) become allowed at high pressure. Collisions break many of the rules that govern atomic behavior, allowing otherwise forbidden events to occur. In the case of the mercury lamp, collisions at high pressure permit the mercury atoms to emit wavelengths of light that they cannot emit a low pressure when collisions are rare.

Why do many fluorescent lamps blink before they come on?

The lamp first heats the filaments in its electrodes red hot so that they begin to emit electrons and then tries to start a discharge across the lamp. If there are not enough electrons leaving the electrodes to sustain a steady discharge, the lamp will blink briefly but will not stay on. The lamp will try again; first heating its filaments and then trying to start the discharge. The lamp may blink several times before the discharge becomes strong enough to keep the electrodes hot and sustain the discharge.

Why do fluorescent tubes explode if broken (is it the compression of the gas)?

Fluorescent tubes operate at very low pressure; roughly 1/1000th of an atmosphere. They do not explode when broken; they implode. The atmospheric pressure surrounding the tube crushes it as soon as it begins to crack. The tube shape of a typical fluorescent tube is chosen because it can withstand the enormous compressive forces of the atmosphere better than most other shapes.

Why do fluorescent emissions of light not produce more heat?

When an atom is excited by a collision and then emits energy as light, it converts most of the collision energy into light. Thus the gas in a fluorescent lamp experiences many collisions but emits most of the collision energy as light. The gas becomes slightly hot, but not nearly as hot as the filament of an incandescent bulb. The electrical energy arrives at the fluorescent bulb as a current of charged particles and most of this energy leaves the bulb as light, without ever becoming heat. However the electrical energy arriving at an incandescent bulb becomes heat first and then becomes light. The conversion of electrical energy to heat dramatically reduces the bulb’s ability to emit visible light efficiently.

Where does the extra energy go after ultraviolet light goes through the phosphor coating? Is it lost as heat?

Yes. The extra energy is converted into heat by the phosphors. Their electrons absorb the light energy, convert some of that energy into heat, and then reemit the light. Since the new light contains less energy per particle (per photon) than the old light, it appears as visible rather than ultraviolet light.

When the temperature is sub-zero (e.g., -40°), is it necessary to heat the electrodes or the gas or both for the tube to light? What is the optimum tube temperature with respect to efficiency?

Fluorescent lamps do not operate well in extreme cold. Below about 15° C (59° F), the density of mercury atoms in the tube’s vapor is too low to produce efficient light. While the tube also contains inert gases that allow it to start at almost any temperature, the scarcity of mercury atoms leads to a reduced light output. In any case, the electrodes must be heated to make them emit electrons to sustain the discharge.

The optimal internal temperature for a fluorescent lamp is about 60° C (140° F). The tube reaches this internal temperature when its outside is about 40° C (104° F). When the surrounding temperature exceeds 40° C, the tube begins to waste energy again because the density of mercury atoms in the vapor becomes too large.

What is the correct way to dispose of fluorescent lamps? Do they really have mercury inside them? Is the powder that covers the inside of them dangerous? Is there a simple way to get rid of a burned fluorescent lamp without pollution? – Augusto

While there is mercury in a fluorescent lamp, the amount of mercury is relatively small. There are only about 0.5 milligrams of mercury in each kilogram of lamp, or 0.5 parts per million. In fact, because fluorescent lamps use so much less energy than incandescent lamps, they actually reduce the amount of mercury introduced into our environment. That’s because fossil fuels contain mercury and burning fossil fuels to obtain energy releases substantial amounts of mercury into the environment. If you replace your incandescent lamps with fluorescent lamps, the power company will burn less fuel and release less mercury. That’s one reason to switch to fluorescent lamps, even if you must simply throw those lamps away when they burn out. Nonetheless, there are programs to recycle the mercury in fluorescent lamps. Last year, the University of Virginia recycled 31 miles of fluorescent lamps. They distilled the mercury out of the white phosphor powder on the inner walls of the tubes. Once the mercury has been removed from that powder, the powder is not hazardous. The university also recycled the glass. One last note: the mercury is an essential component of the fluorescent lamp—mercury atoms inside the tube are what create ultraviolet light that is then converted to visible light by the white phosphor powder that covers the inside of the tube.